Our trip to New Orleans was only five days, but it spanned so much awesomeness that I’ll break this into a couple posts.
Wednesday was our travel day. The nice thing about New Orleans is that it feels pretty distant, but isn’t terrible tough to get to. Some friends were even driving down, but at 12+ hours we were gladly flying. Airline checked bags fees aside, the flights were uneventful and we were in the Big Easy by mid-afternoon.
Our hotel was right in the French Quarter, less then half a block off Bourbon Street. Shortly after checking in we ran into Brian and Amanda (the bride and groom to be) and we opted for an early happy hour at the bar right next to our hotel, The Old Absinthe House. Bourbon street is really interesting. Besides all the cheesy bars selling tropical drinks by the yard and all the houses of ill repute (er, Gentlemen clubs) there are also some very historic bars and some very exclusive restaurants. There’s no such thing as a good end or bad of Bourbon Street – like gumbo it’s all mixed up from door to door. The Old Absinthe House is a dusty old corner bar, but has stood there since 1807. Faded pictures on the wall showed that the bar hadn’t changed much through the last two centuries. We relaxed into the NOLA scene with a couple rounds.
Then it was time to head to House of Blues, for some much needed food and a concert later in the evening. The HOB was only about five blocks away and there was no wait for a table. D and I torn into some of the best skillet cornbread we’ve ever had before moving onto yummy Cajun entrees.
Making our way into their music hall I didn’t know how large of a venue to expect. I’ve always heard of big acts playing at various HOBs, but never seen a show at one. Luckily it turned out to be a pretty small room with elevated sides and a cool wrap around balcony. As a restaurant patron we got in sooner than most and snagged a great elevated spot at house left. The opening band was Brahms, a sort of dark-wave three piece from NYC. They did a pretty decent set, and I dug their all electronic setup, but they seem a bit out of their element playing to the sizable HOB crowd. Next up was the Canadian indie band Tokyo Police Club. They brought more energy to the stage and helped amp things up for the main act. I’m a fan of their singles, but their other tunes seem to lack a few hooks, and their style works best with a good hook.
By the time Passion Pit took the stage the house was packed. They are still touring off their first full album, Manners, from 2009 so the setlist was as predicted, except for the awesome encore cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams”. Hardly any other male singer could attempt the soaring vocals in that song, but it was right up the alley of Michael Angelakos. You can tell they’d been touring behind that material for a solid year, everything was well-paced and effortless. I’ve been enjoying that album since it came out and it was great to see it live after skipping their set at Lollapalooza last summer. All in all, a super fun show and a great finish for our first night in the Big Easy.
We spent the long Memorial Day weekend as we usually do, camping. From Friday night to Monday afternoon there were no computers, no video games, and no internet (self-imposed BlackBerry ban). We camped at the O’Bannon Woods State Park in Indiana, which is on the Ohio River a little west of Louisville. The weather was really hot and humid, with no breeze for relief, so we did more relaxing and less hiking than usual; which isn’t all bad.
Along with Dave, Christian, Nigel, and Mark the two sites we had were pretty packed. All together there were 4 tents, two screened shelters, and 7 coolers! We played hours of dominoes, made some great meals, and enjoyed countless beers.
It’s funny, the Aztek is approaching ten years old, but it still gets as many comments from other campers as ever (favorable, thank you very much). I can’t count how many kids stopped and said “wow, cool, there’s a tent on their car!” and one adult stopped and mentioned that she was bringing over everyone in their group to see. I might just have to keep this car running for several years to come. At this point we’re too spoiled to sleep on the ground and still too young to graduate to an RV.
Just had a great weekend of camping in southern Indiana with Dave, Christian, and Nigel. The weather was absolutely perfect – very warm days with a little breeze and nice chilly nights – with none of the downpours that we usually get.
We did a 5+ hour hike on Saturday in the 80 degree weather. It started with a pretty treacherous climb down a steep muddy hill. From there, the hike turned wet and rocky as we followed a creek until we eventually got up to a set of waterfalls. After the falls we had to wind our way back up the cliffs and way back around the creek on high ground.
Back at camp we relaxed with games and beers and an awesome meal of steaks, brats, potatoes, peppers, and of course, s’mores. I think as we get older the camp food we eat is about the same, but we use better ingredients (gourmet meats and cheeses, etc).
Posted Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 12:28 PMNo Comments
Last Thursday in Vegas I entered the evening Texas Hold ‘em tournament at the MGM Grand casino. The MGM is kind of unique in how they feature a nice poker room and their sports book prominently near their entrance, whereas most casinos tuck them toward a back corner. In the poker room they run hold ‘em tournaments most days in addition to the on-going cash tables. The night I played there were about 45 players in the tournament. A buy-in of $80 got you 3000 in tourney chips. They run their tourneys pretty aggressively, the blinds doubling every 20 minutes, and after 80 minutes, an ante is added for all players which also doubles every 20 minutes. They force the action pretty strong and I was a little worried how my usual tight play would hold out. By 80 minutes in, after our first break, the blinds had reached 400/800 and I was barely hanging in with 1200. I had been in a few hands and had to get out of a few I knew I was behind in. Luckily my next hand was a good one, a nut flush, and my all-in took down a good pot.
Not a hand or two after, all the players redrew for seats at two final tables. Within 20 minutes, the blinds were up to 800/1600 and I was short stacked again with 900 in chips. I don’t call the blind of the next hand and the dealer leans over, sees I’m down to less than the blinds and asks “what are you waiting for”. I tell him “better cards”. The next hand I get dealt a big slick (A-K) and go all-in (which after the ante of 200 is only 700 – less than the SMALL blind). There are plenty of callers, and even though I only get a portion of the pot, it floats me way back up.
A few hands later and we redraw for seats as we are down to the final table. A couple more players fall out. A little later, the blinds are up to 1500/3000 and I make another desperate all-in push, pull in the pot, and come back from the brink AGAIN. As we get down to four players we know we’ve all made it to the money. With blinds now at 3000/6000 (not to mention an ante of 500) I have only a couple hands worth of chips left once again. I go all-in with pocket sevens and the chip leader calls me with pocket 8’s. With no help for either of us on the board, I finish in 4th and make $288 (10% of the pot). It’s a shame I couldn’t outlast one more player or I would have had double the payout, but I counted myself lucky to make it as far as I did. That was my first casino tourney and even though it was a small one it was awesome to finish 4th out of 45 and make some dough.
Posted Friday, April 17th, 2009 12:25 PMNo Comments
